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Intel (INTC) rallied as much as 9% on Friday morning after the US President, Donald Trump, praised the semiconductor behemoth and its chief executive, Lip-Bu Tan, in a social media post.

INTC shares have been in a sharp uptrend over the past six months – a rally that has “doubled” the value of the Trump administration’s stake in the chip manufacturer.

“The United States government is proud to be a shareholder of Intel,” the President wrote on Truth Social – touting the firm’s recently launched chips that were “designed, built, and packaged in the USA.”

His remarks followed a “great meeting” with the “very successful” Intel leader, Lip-Bu Tan.

Is federal support all that’s driving Intel stock?
 

While Intel stock has meaningfully gained from federal support in recent months, it’s not all that has contributed to the rally.

The multinational has made real progress on manufacturing technology that signals it’s slowly but surely gaining ground against rivals, including Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia.

For example, INTC has recently launched the Core Ultra Series 3 or “Panther Lake” processors – it’s first sub-2-nanometer offering built on the 18A node.

These new chips offer notable performance gains over predecessors (77% in gaming, and 60% in multithreaded workloads), reinforcing that the firm’s advanced process works at scale.

The next major milestone for Intel is its upcoming 14A process – slated to enter risk production in 2027.

A simple reason to remain invested in INTC shares
 

While Intel shares aren’t entirely out of the woods just yet, they’re attractive as a long-term holding for one simple reason – everyone wants this firm to succeed, according to Futurum’s top executive, Daniel Newman.

In a recent CNBC interview, Newman noted TSMC can’t possibly make enough chips to meet the worldwide demand.

According to him, INTC isn’t positioned to replace Taiwan Semi – at least not in the near-term – but it could emerge as a reliable “second”, and even that would prove sufficient for it to experience a multi-year rally given the sheer scale of AI demand.

Intel’s strategic importance as a substitute supplier for the semiconductor industry is why the likes of SoftBank and Nvidia have poured billions into the Nasdaq-listed firm.

How Wall Street recommends playing Intel
 

In the near-term, technicals paint just as rosy a picture for INTC stock as well.

Not only is the company trading handily above its major moving averages (50-day, 100-day, 200-day) at the time of writing, its longer-term relative strength index (100-day) sits at 58 currently – indicating bulls still have more room to run.

According to Barchart, while the consensus rating on Intel sits at “hold” only, Street’s price targets on it go as high as $52, signaling potential for another 20% upside over the next 12 months. 

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